There exists a wide variety of different types of commercial vehicles and trailers for loading, transporting and unloading a payload. One such handy commercial vehicle is a truck having a lift gate provided on the back end thereof. The lift gate eliminates the need for a loading dock to lift and lower heavy payload items into and out of the truck. However, this type of arrangement is expensive, and only suitable for businesses shipping and transporting goods on a regular basis (e.g. daily). Further, the size (length and width) of the lift gate is fairly limited so as to prevent larger or longer items to be loaded into the truck by the lift gate.
Trailers have the advantage of being significantly less expensive than a commercial truck or vehicle. Further, trailers are designed to be pulled by a vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, and come in a wide variety of sizes and duties. Many trailers on the market today are configured with a tilting bed so that the bed can be tilted to lower the back edge of the trailer bed down to the loading surface. However, due to the height of the trailer bed when in a raised position, the bed makes a substantial angle with the loading surface when in the lowered position. Thus, it still is difficult or impossible to load heavy items onto the tilt trailer even if loading ramps are used with the tilt trailer. Thus, there exists a need for a trailer having a bed that can be raised and lowered, and be positioned substantially horizontal or at a slight angle relative to the loading surface.
Further, there exists a need for a trailer that can load and unload payloads from the ground or a loading dock or at various heights inbetween. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with tilting trailers.